The Lost Library of Cormanthy - Mel Odom [135]
Chomack didn't appear content with her announcement, but he didn't attack either.
"Gather your men," Krystarn said. "We're going to go up further into the library."
"We should escape."
Krystarn pointed back the way they had come. "The dimensional door we used to get here has been wiped away. I can't open another that way. We'll have to kill the lich if we can, and find another way out if we can't."
"Where's the white elf?" the hobgoblin chieftain demanded. "He helped you open the door the first time. He can help you open it again."
"If you find him, let me know."
Chomack growled, then turned and neatly sliced the head from the shoulders of a dead woman approaching him from behind. "He's run off then?"
"I don't know." Krystarn looked back the way she'd come when Shallowsoul had launched his magical attack. Beetles swarmed the hobgoblins and the undead in the area. The hobgoblins fared the best, suffering only from the bites while the undead became feasting grounds for the beetles.
"He's nowhere to be found. He set you up."
Krystarn believed that was the truth as well. She glanced up at the lich, who was hastily casting spells and summoning some of the undead to control the fires. Three of the undead seeking to beat out the flames with their bare hands caught fire themselves, becoming walking torches that spread the threat of loss.
"Get your men," Krystarn repeated. "Now!"
Chomack called to his trumpeters, who blew the rally call. The battles broke off as the hobgoblin forces sank back toward their chieftain.
Krystarn summoned another spell, then hit the advancing line of undead with the mystic energy. A sheet of fire twenty feet tall formed between the uneven line of hobgoblins and undead. Controlled by their master's wishes, the undead kept coming forward, immolating themselves on the fire barrier. They twisted and turned away, burning bright.
"You're going to die a horrible death, drow!" Shallowsoul promised over the roar of the blaze.
"After you," Krystarn shot back as she raced out of the room. A narrow flight of stairs took them up scarcely three feet, but it opened onto another room. This room was squat and oval in shape. Light from the flaming corpses and burning books threw garish shadows into the room. Smoke rushed into the empty space in great, gray clouds.
Krystarn looked through the three passages open to her, trying to choose the path that would be more valuable for looting. And hoping that there was a way of escape. She cursed the baelnorn for running out on them.
Light flickered from a balcony above her. At first, the drow believed it was a reflection from the fires behind her. Then she saw the light overhead move smoothly along and disappear.
"We are not alone in the library," Chomack said.
"No." Krystarn searched the twisting spiral staircases until she spotted the one that took her up to the level where she saw the light. The baelnorn had helped her enter the library, possibly he had done the same for Baylee Arnvold. He could have made a deal with the human ranger. Of anyone in the caverns, Scoontiphp would most know what secrets the library held. She changed her course to the spiral stairway. "Follow me."
Chomack and his warriors pounded after her. She no longer feared their loyalty. None of them could get out of the library without her.
"Something's burning." Cthulad drew in a deep breath.
Baylee silently agreed, and the thought sent a chill through him. All the priceless works of art and knowledge in the library could be at risk. He hesitated at the next staircase the baelnorn plunged up.
No, Xuxa advised. Whatever threat there is to the library, the lich will act against. Including us. And he will be better equipped to handle those threats than you are.
Overcoming his urge to return and trace the smell of smoke, Baylee closed the distance between himself and Scoontiphp. He heard men praying to their gods behind him, and realized that even he had been repeating the prayer for the Mielikki's grace.
"How much further?" Baylee asked.